The footballers of the England team, whose official uniform is all white, negotiate with their equipment supplier Nike to wear colored shorts, in order to remedy the risk of stains linked to menstruation. A claim supported by other sportswomen.
And if the Lionesses dropped the white? The English footballers (who reached the quarter-finals of Euro 2022 by crushing the Norwegians 8-0 on Monday) have indeed informed their equipment supplier Nike of their desire to change the color of the shorts of their official uniform. In question, the stress generated by an immaculate outfit during menstruation, the risk of leakage is never far away. “It’s great to have an all-white outfit, but it’s not necessarily appropriate when we’re on our period. We try to manage it as we cantell the Telegraph Beth Mead, author of the first goal of the competition in the opening match against Austria (1-0).
The English Football Association (FA) immediately supported its players by acknowledging “the importance of this question”. “Any feedback from them will be considered for future designs.said an FA spokesperson. We will continue to work closely with our partner Nike, while following the advice of tournament organizers where possible in terms of color choices.” Asked about the subject at a press conference on the eve of the start of the Blues against Italy, Wendie Renard, captain of the France team, went in the direction of the Lionesses. “Indeed, it is not easy to play with white shorts. We adapt, we are high level players and unfortunately, we have that. It’s part of our life. I congratulate the English. If they can do the same for us, that would be cool.”she launched to Nike, which also equips the Blues with white shorts.
“It is high time”
The topic of rules was also on the table during Wimbledon. Several tennis players, like the gold medalist at the Rio Olympics Monica Puigor even Britons Heather Watson (ex-39th in the world) and Alicia Barnett (107th in the world) shared the “mental pressure” to have to dress in white and “to pray not to have your periodduring the London Grand Slam, calling for a relaxation of a dress code deemed archaic. Following their testimonies, a handful of protesters wearing white skirts with red shorties gathered outside the main entrance to Wimbledon on Saturday, ahead of the singles final between Tunisian Ons Jabeur and Kazakh Elena Rybakina. The young women carried signs with the slogans “About bloody time”, “Address the dress code” and “You can do it Ian Hewitt” (“You can do it Ian Hewitt”, to the attention of the president of the tournament of Wimbledon).
Long taboo in the world of sport, menstruation is increasingly taken seriously by sports bodies thanks to the proliferation of athletes speaking out, like judoka Clarisse Agbegnenou, who spoke in 2020 in Release on the occasion of a collaboration with the French brand of period panties Réjeanne. “We have blue and white kimonos, there is a real stress on the change of periodic protections, especially in competition. When you have a white kimono, what do you do? launched the one who has since become a double Olympic champion in Tokyo in 2021. An anguish that she experienced from an early age. “I asked my girlfriends every five minutes if I had a spot. In the pole, after an hour, I had to go change and inform the coach. I also had severe pain in my breasts. Confiding in a man on this subject was complicated the first few times. Young girls are also much more likely than boys to stop competitive sport during adolescence, in particular because of their periods, according to a study published in March 2022 by the British association Women in Sports.. According to the same study, almost eight out of ten girls (78%) who said they were athletic admitted that they avoided playing sports when they had their period because of pain, fatigue and fear of leaks.